Hanover
College spokeswoman Diana Lawrence said this weekend’s exclusive event brought together trustees, administrators, faculty and a small group of alumni and parents “to discuss ideas and opportunities for advancing Dartmouth” before the latest capital campaign’s debut next year.
“As we approach the public launch of the campaign next year, this is one of many forward-looking sessions in which Dartmouth’s academic leaders are sharing plans and aspirations,” Lawrence said in an email on Monday.
Large fundraising initiatives at institutions such as Dartmouth typically begin with a “quiet” phase of solicitations from large donors and then go public having reached a certain portion of the overall goal.
The program for the “Presidential Summit: The Call to Lead,” with events from Friday to Sunday, cited such boldface speakers as Jeff Immelt, a 1978 alumnus and the chairman of General Electric; Dr. Joanne Conroy, a 1977 alumna and the CEO and president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock; and Marcy Reed, a 1985 alumna who is chief of business operations, engineering and process at National Grid.
College President Phil Hanlon gave a 45-minute address to start the day on Saturday, followed by presentations from student leaders, professional school deans and the directors of Dartmouth’s major research institutes, according to a program on the college’s website.
Hanlon’s talk was scheduled to introduce “his vision for Dartmouth’s future and key areas of strategic focus for the upcoming campaign,” the program said.
Other amenities included a “behind-the-scenes” tour of the ongoing renovations to the Hood Museum of Art and an “inside look” at an initiative by Dartmouth Sports to help athletes “reach their highest potential, both on and off the field.”
In an email exchange on Monday, Lawrence declined to provide more information about the upcoming public campaign’s projected size or funding priorities before its official launch. Dartmouth’s last capital campaign, under then-presidents Jim Wright and Jim Yong Kim, lasted from 2002 to 2009 and raised about $1.3 billion. The funds went toward financial aid for students, dozens of endowed professorships and improvements to college facilities, among other priorities, according to a college announcement from that time.
The college’s Board of Trustees this weekend also visited town to hear updates on major building and student-body projects. Those presentations included mention of “the potential construction of new residence halls” — a major potential development for the college, given the age of some of its undergraduate dorms and recent pressure on graduate student housing from an uptick this fall in the size of Dartmouth’s first-year class. College officials declined to discuss new residence halls on Monday, citing a pending announcement.
Trustees also reviewed designs for a building to house the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, a new interdisciplinary initiative launched with an $80 million gift from the family behind Irving Oil.
Lawrence declined to share the designs publicly, saying they were “highly preliminary.”
Administrators in regulatory filings earlier this year discussed building a $73 million structure at the end of Tuck Mall, on the west end of campus.
Finally, the trustees heard an update from the Task Force on Undergraduate Enrollment Scale, a group of faculty and administrators that is coming up with options for Dartmouth to expand the size of its student body by between 10 and 25 percent. In March, the task force is scheduled to submit a report to Hanlon outlining how the school could increase the number of students — if it chose to. Administrators have emphasized that a potential expansion is by no means definite.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.